Taking Action … or Just Musing About It

Bill Hybels in his wonderful book “Holy Discontent” talks about the things that we observe in the world that burn in our soul so strongly that we feel we MUST do something about them or be consumed by this inner fire.

I’ve been struggling with a holy discontent of my own these days.

I have received a lot of advice from people indicating that others will take care of the things that need to be fixed in the world, the things in the world aren’t as bad as people think, we just need to pray about the problems and they will go away, I should mind my own business, I should respect the processes in places (which are not producing any result), etc.

With deepest respect to all of these well-intentioned folks, I disagree with all of this and have often been criticized for standing up to excuses for not getting stuff done.

In looking for the best way to describe why I disagree with them, I couldn’t explain it any better than Henri Nouwen and his co-authors in the book “Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life” and so I share it with you.

“Honest, direct confrontation is a true expression of compassion. As Christians, we are in the world without being of it. It is precisely this position that renders confrontation both possible and necessary. The illusion of power must be unmasked, idolatry must be undone, oppression and exploitation must be fought. This is compassion.

We cannot suffer with the poor when we are unwilling to confront those persons and systems that cause poverty. We cannot set the captives free when we do not want to confront those who carry the keys. We cannot profess solidarity with those who are oppressed when we are unwilling to confront the oppressor. Compassion without confrontation fades quickly into fruitless sentimental commiseration.

But if confrontation is to be an expression of patient action it must be humble.  Our constant temptation is to fall into self-righteous revenge or self-serving condemnation.  The danger here is that our own witness can blind us.  When confrontation is blinded by desire for attention, need for revenge or greed for power, it can easily become self-serving and cease to be compassionate.”

So.

We all have a holy discontent that burns within us.

Are we willing to do what it takes, to collaborate as much as it takes and to take action with every fiber of our being to address our holy discontent?

How strong is our will to see our vision and our personal mission come to fruition and to help others realize the same within their own lives?

The answer to that question not only impacts the sense of purpose in our own lives but in fact, impacts the level of positive results that are achieved in the world.

In service and servanthood.

Harry

To read my detailed musing about “Taking Action …. or Just Musing About It” please go here.

Eastern Health – Leadership in Crisis

I almost NEVER post my political thoughts on the web.

However, in the case of watching Eastern Health (in Newfoundland, Canada) melt down over shortcomings in leadership, I couldn’t help but write this letter to the key stakeholders within the government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

If you want additional specifics, feel free to Google them.  The details are too complex to summarize in my blog but a number of people wanted to see this letter and for this reason, I have posted this on my blog.

My letter follows – comments are welcome.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday – March 15, 2010

Good day, Honorable Premier, Honorable Minister of Health, Ms. Jones and Ms. Michael.

As a strategy advisor and leadership incubator on Wall St. for many years, I find the current series of events at Eastern Health interesting and disturbing.

Ms. Kaminski’s claims of ignorance or helplessness regarding the things that are going on in Eastern Health may appear to her to give her a free pass; that all of this is happening without her knowledge and is beyond her control.  Her recent public statements which are more suggestive of a bully and not a leader are not helpful either.

Most leaders know that to admit things are happening without their knowledge or beyond their control is not just symptomatic of problems lower down in the organization.  It is in fact, symptomatic of issues within the leadership itself.  In these situations, there is no limit to how high up the chain one must go in order to find and correct these issues.

The constant cover-ups, misrepresentations, he said / she said accusations, resignations that are stated to be for one reason and then are found to not be related, etc., suggests an organization in crisis and of leadership in crisis.

In addition, the current manner in which this is being debated in public is horrific, unprofessional, unproductive and if anything, continues to erode the confidence of the people.

What makes matters of greater concern is that the devil is not in what we know – it’s in what we don’t know.

I would suspect that if so many leaks in the “Eastern Health boat” have come to light, there is a good chance that there is much more amiss inside the Eastern Health ship that we cannot see.

Just as the dangerous part of an iceberg is mostly out of sight, I wonder if there are many more challenges within Eastern Health that are out of sight, waiting for an inopportune moment to manifest and potentially take the lives of people unnecessarily.

What we see being demonstrated in public could hardly convince us otherwise.

You are all leaders of strong background and high intelligence with a history of service to the people of the Province and a commitment to do the right things for the Province.

Please work together to bring your intelligence, your passion to do the right thing and your commitment for excellence to bear to bring this back under control – not only what we see but what we don’t see also.

To do anything else is to not serve the people of the Province.

Yours most respectfully,

Harry Tucker

 

Addendum – March 19th, 2010:

Some folks may be interested in this earlier blog entry that referenced Eastern Health.

Stewardship – Do Unto Others…..

Almost every one of us can think of a moment in our lives when we really needed help and the right person arrived at the right moment. Maybe that person was a teacher who took extra time for us when we struggled. Maybe it was someone at work who took the time to teach us a new skill or who gave us a break when we really needed it. Perhaps it was a compliment that gave us the self confidence to complete a task. It might have been something as simple as the complete stranger who gave us a smile in the middle of a bad day. Perhaps it wasn’t something done to us directly but a story that was shared with us that inspired us to do something for someone else.

We have many people to be grateful for for all that we have in Life. Think of where we would be without them.

There are many people out there right now who are in need of the same gifts that we have received. While we acknowledge this, we all struggle with the complexities of life, with so many things competing for our time, our talent and our treasure that perhaps prevent us from giving as much as we would like to others.

The truth is that, as in our own lives, oftentimes the most profound and impactful gifts we can give are the simplest and easiest to give. These are the gifts that show others that they are important, that they matter and that others care about them. Often this knowledge alone can have a profound impact on others, an impact that they in turn pass on to others. As it is written in 1 Peter 4:10 - "As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace."

Bob Pierce defined the term "The Great Compassion" as meaning "Let my heart be broken by that which breaks the heart of God".

What things in the world do you believe break the heart of God? These are the areas where He calls you to help. It is not the size of the act that matters. What matters is whether you take action or leave it as an intention.

We all perform acts of stewardship every day. However, there is always room for more.

Where would you be if someone had chosen to be too busy rather than to help?

Someone is waiting for you. How would you like to help?

"Finally, all of you, be of one mind, sympathetic, loving toward one another, compassionate, humble. " - 1 Peter 3:8

In service and servanthood.

Harry

My detailed musing is the same entry for this blog but if you would like to see my detailed musings, please go here.

If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going …

… any road will take you there.

So Lewis Carroll wrote in Through the Looking Glass.

Many know him as an enlightened author but I wonder if he was in fact, a brilliant strategist.

Many things in life are not measurable and there isn’t a magical, guaranteed plan that, when put into play, guarantees a successful outcome every time.

Many paths that we choose (or allow others to choose on our behalf) are benign and when we realize we are on the wrong path, we can retrace our steps and choose a better one.  Hopefully we are better for the experience anyway, we reason.

However, many paths are VERY long, VERY expensive to travel and many have road mines that when tripped, impact our ability to continue down ANY path.

A Better Way

There seems to be a great need to return to respectful dialog using all the information at our disposal.

We loudly trumpet how we have more information now than ever.

That’s wonderful.  However, it is only truly valuable when it is used.

The choices we make as a result of sharper, focused dialogue and enhanced accountability may not guarantee the desired result, but it will give us a better chance of avoiding the stuff that sets us back further and further.

The economic, corporate, societal and ecological states of the world do not have much room left for continued random execution with the hope of accidentally finding something that works.

We don’t have much room for turning a blind eye towards personal agendas either.

We need to encourage people to be more responsible and accountable about how they choose the road that they travel.  Remember that we all travel these roads together.  The road they choose is the one that we end up on.

Do you think we are travelling down the best road?

How do you know?

What are you going to do about it?

In service and servanthood.

Harry

To read my detailed blog about “If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going …” please click here.